Just released today, the new album 'This Will All Happen Again' by L.A. based band, Synical. According to their website, "Synical is a post punk gothic dance band formed by Brian Haught in 1989. The album was mixed by John Fryer (NIN) and features performances by members of Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, James Hall, Faster Pussycat, Genitorturers, and Murderdolls." 5th album? How come I've never heard of them before now? Maybe landing a record deal with Cleopatra had something to do with it.

I haven't seen a promo from Cleopatra in a long, long while, but I did get an email from the band's publicist with a link to their video for "Homesick," definitely the best song on 'This Will All Happen Again'. The video piqued my interest enough to ask their publicist for their new album to review, based primarily on Haught's presence and stylized vocals, a cool '80s post punk gothy sound, memorable song, and flame-throwin' hot video. Could the rest of the album hold up as well?

It begins with introductory track "Mount Resentment," a full minute of "Don't worry, be happy" samples. Not a good sign. Then comes "Homesick" which I already covered. Brian gives "Different Then" a snarky, snotty attitude commensurate with his youthful folly, and a retro musical sound that blends perfectly with the theme. Getting a lot of U.K. new wave band vibes (Pet Shop Boys and Psychedelic Furs come to mind) from this one. Air raid siren begins the titular track addressing numerous world problems and prophetic ideas that (may or may not...yet) come to pass, such as "video has replaced the written word". Absolutely doomful, but unfortunately true. Music is great though. "False Nature" continues the nihilistic theme with more of an alt-rock sound, and an awful lot going on musically (a little messy) but still a good song. "Trapeze" is my pick for second best song, expertly done, a strong rocker with a decent amount of "hookage". "Capri," which follows, is a hippyish instrumental with tremolo guitar, glock, flute and hand drums. Not only unnecessary, but totally wrong for the sound these guys want to be known for.

"Heart Can't Tell Me No" is one of the few 'relationship' songs on the album, a bit slow moving with too many electronic 'pwwws,' just an okay song that ends abruptly without warning. "Party Needs" has a strong industrial beat (the best thing about this song) but something about Haught's vocal style sounds a little whiny on this one. Ending with "Autumn of Discontent" the somewhat remorseful tune has dark Brit pop written all over it. I'd rank this one #3 on the album. Hey, if you get 3 really good songs on an album these day, that's win in my book. And in the digital age, you can pick which songs to download that trip your trigger. For hard copy enthusiasts you can pick the album up on white vinyl or CD on which you get all. There's not enough good goth music coming out these days in America (at least not enough that I know about) so maybe Synical will fulfill your dark desires. Too bad track aren't available for preview on their Bandcamp site yet (the video will have to do here), and be careful in doing a Google search on the band by name as there is a hip hop artist from the U.K. with the same name, and you probably don't want to go there.